Coors Light team finishes Pepsi 400 in Top-20

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 5, 2003) --- Sterling Marlin's promising start to the Pepsi 400 weekend at Daytona International Speedway did not quite pan out the way the Coors Light team had expected.

Thursday, Marlin qualified his Coors Light Dodge in fourth position for the race.  Friday, the Silver Bullet was fastest in Happy Hour practice.  But, at the start of the race Saturday night, Marlin radioed in early that his car was tight.  Marlin just did not seem to have the car to be competitive.  The Coors Light Dodge continued to be tight for the main portion of the race and Marlin could not gain any positions on the straight-aways.  

Although Marlin had car troubles, he did compete in the top-10 for a good portion of the race.  The last 50 laps of the race came down to a fuel mileage race.  The Coors Light team had to pit on lap 148 for fuel while other competitors did not have to come in.  This forced the team to drop back to 20th place.  Marlin eventually finished the race in 19th place and remains 10th in championship point standings.

"We kept working on the car and I thought we were in pretty good shape, but we got banged up a little bit and the car wouldn't do what we needed it to do," Marlin said.  "It's not the way we wanted to finish, but we'll go to the house and get ready for Chicago next week."

Ganassi teammates Casey Mears and Jamie McMurray finished 25th and 37th respectively. 

The Coors Light team heads to Chicagoland Speedway next weekend for the Tropicana 400 on July 12th.  The race will be broadcast live on NBC television and MRN radio.